Body found in canal near Welland, Ont.

Niagara Regional Police investigators recovered the body of a woman from the Welland Recreational Canal after it was discovered by Hwy. 406 bridge workers. Regional police believe the woman may have been in a crash earlier investigated by the OPP.

Allan Benner, QMI Agency

Gilles Bilodeau, a supervisor for Rankin Construction building a new bridge across the waterway, said workers arrived to learn that a vehicle collision had occurred at 6:05 a.m., leaving a splintered utility pole in a ditch beside the entrance to their work site along the highway, near the bridge over the old canal.

"We don't know what happened," Bilodeau said. "We just got here for work and there was an accident here this morning, before we got here. They were just cleaning up the accident when we got here.

"We went to work and we saw the body in the canal."

He said two construction workers were the first to see the body floating in the water. They immediately called 911.